Everybody counts

The ‘Everybody Counts’ Project aims to provide children aged 4-12 in the local community with imaginative educational materials to help improve their numeracy skills.

Based on a successful mathematics education project initiated in South Africa, we collected 100 portraits of people, each holding (or wearing!) a number from 1 to 100.

The poster can be used in many ways; the ‘hundred square’ of ten rows of ten numbers is a feature of every primary classroom. In addition, each portrait is included in a set of 100 matching playing cards, that show (on the reverse) the person’s name and age, the language(s) they speak, and their favourite food.

These materials and the accompanying activities provide a focus for raising the profile of mathematics education in Leicester and Leicestershire - and further afield. We are giving two posters and ten packs of cards to each of more than 400 schools in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The majority of the hundred photographs have been taken in six schools in Leicester, giving as wide a representation of our city’s population as possible. We have also included a few other interesting people, some of whom you may have heard of...

This is a wonderful idea to help local children with maths. We are lucky in Leicester to have a University which excels in maths and science research, and it is good to see the University working with schools and the community to help bring maths to life.

Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester City Mayor

This project has provided a fantastic opportunity for the University, city, local schools and families to work together. The number 100 is especially significant for our University as we begin to think about celebrating our Centenary. Our founding charter tasked us with improving the educational opportunities for people of the city and surrounding counties. Our beginnings were local but, like the city itself, we have since grown into an international community with links all over the world.